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Through two
games, Carolina's adjustment to a starting lineup that features P.J. Hairston
has been mostly about firepower, culminating with a 93-point explosion against
stingy Virginia.

Starting
tonight in Atlanta, however, the Tar Heels will have to prove they can play
physically even with the smaller lineup. Expect rebounding to be one of the key
themes in tonight's 9 p.m. tip against Georgia Tech. Jackets head coach Brian
Gregory is a Tom Izzo disciple, which means rebounding forms one of the
cornerstones of his program.

Under the second-year head coach, Tech is just
4-16 when it loses the rebounding battle. The Jackets were outrebounded in each of their first three ACC games, but have been outrebounded just twice in their last nine league outings.

That means
Hairston's rebounding totals might be nearly as important as his scoring
figures tonight. Since moving into the starting lineup, he's rebounded very
well, grabbing 15 rebounds over the past two games, the second-best figure on
the team (James Michael McAdoo has 18 in the same span) and the best two-game
stretch for any Carolina starter at power forward this season.

In that
sense, he's answered a very direct challenge from Roy Williams.

"One time,
James Michael shot the ball from the baseline, and we had nobody go to the
board," the head coach said after the win over the Cavaliers. "I said, 'You
small guys who like the small lineup, I can't do that if you don't get to the
board.'...The rebounding part is the most crucial part of the game. Two games in
a row, P.J. has done a big-time job for us on the backboards."

He's just
6-5 ½, but Hairston has shown a consistent knack for finding the ball around
the rim, especially on the offensive end, where he's grabbed nine offensive
rebounds in his two games as a starter.

He also
pays attention to his coach's threats. Both of Hairston's offensive rebounds
against Virginia came off shots by McAdoo, and both the offensive rebounds
turned into points for the Tar Heels.

"With us
being big guards, we have the advantage to box out a smaller defender,"
Hairston said. "At the '4,' I have to be strong enough to box out a bigger guy
than me and chase after the ball every time I can."

He'll get
the opportunity to prove he can do it over the next two games. Georgia Tech
pairs 6-11 ½ center Daniel Miller with 6-8 Robert Carter Jr. in their starting
frontcourt. Carter actually leads the Jackets in rebounding, so if Hairston
should draw that assignment, he'll not only have to use his quickness to get
around the 245-pound freshman, he'll also have to keep Carter--who ranks 11th
in the league in rebounding--off the offensive boards.

The
challenge only increases in Carolina's next game, as NC State brings Richard
Howell and C.J. Leslie--two of the conference's top nine rebounders--into Chapel
Hill. The last time the Tar Heels and Wolfpack met, State outrebounded Carolina
42-32, the biggest rebounding deficit a Roy Williams-coached team has had in an
ACC game since Feb. 12, 2011, in a narrow win at Clemson.

Hairston's
most important line in the box score this week, then, might come in the
rebounding column rather than the scoring column. But his head coach, perhaps
picturing the beefy Carter trying to follow Hairston around the perimeter,
hopes the matchup could be problematic on both ends.

"It causes
us problems, but hopefully it causes them problems as well," Williams said
Monday. "I think you've got to go with what you feel more comfortable with at
that time. Over 40 minutes, it's hard for P.J. to guard a 6-8 or 6-9 guy. We
understand that part. But it also might be hard for them to guard him."